Ep. 8: Burn! The Flower's Sword
is the eighth episode of Hikari Sentai Maskman. Synopsis Igam uses a special flower to lure out Akira and Momoko to save their teammates after the other Maskman become frozen by a Doggler. Plot The Maskmen are training outdoors as Commander Sanjuuro and Azuma monitor them. Most of the team does well, except for Momoko and Akira; they manage to trip each other up while deflecting cinder blocks. Igam is in the frozen chamber containing Princess Ial, once more wishing that he could just kill her and remove the stain on their family name. Fumin enters, bearing the Maria Rose. This, as she tells Igam, is a flower which only blooms once every ten years, and which could melt the ice containing Ial. When she attempts to do so, however, Igam stops her. He promises Ial that Takeru will join her in everlasting sleep. On the surface, Takeru warns the bandaged Akira and Momoko that they have to be on their guard, and has them attempt a series of back-flips on a hill overlooking a river. When the pair try, they once again trip each other up and fall down the slope. Before their teammates can go after them, they are attacked by Igam, Fumin, Ungler Soldiers and the Saber Doggler. During the battle, the monster is able to freeze the three Maskmen in blocks of ice. Once the attackers leave (Igam attaching a small device to one of the blocks), Akira and Momoko return, discovering their friends' plight. Back at the base, their allies attempt to melt the ice, but none of their technology is powerful enough. The device Igam planted speaks up; if the Maskmen want their friends to return to normal, they have to meet him outside the city. Although they're aware it's probably a trap, the two Masks say they have to go. Their team is meant to have five people. They head out on a motorcycle. On the drive, Akira wonders if there's an afterlife. He thinks he's going to Hell because he once put a caterpillar in a girl's shoe. Momoko tells him that once she pulled a cat's whiskers off, but when he's relieved that he won't be alone in Hell, she adds that she's going to Heaven. In a quarry, the two find the Maria Rose. Igam informs them that it can save their friends, and when they're suspicious, tells them that a Prince of the Underground Empire never lies. Momoko goes to take the flower, but is grabbed by the ankle. Fumin and the Saber Doggler emerge from underground, along with Ungler Soldiers, and battle the two. During the fight, Blue Mask grabs the flower, but it turns out to be a fake. Igam makes the mistake of taunting the two with the real one, and Pink Mask uses her Masky Ribbon to snatch it out of his hands. Catching it, Blue Mask hurries back to the base, where he collapses. Commander Sanjuuro and Azuma fire energy beams into the Maria Rose, an anxious Akira looking on. On their second attempt, it opens fully, and its energy dissolves the ice encasing the other three Masks. They collapse, but Akira quickly rouses them with the danger Momoko is in. Back at the quarry, Momoko does her best, but is outnumbered. Her teammates arrive just as she deflects Saber Doggler's thrown saber back on himself, and at their arrival, the rest of their enemies disperse. They blast Saber Doggler, who is quickly restored by Okelampa, forcing them to form the Great Five and destroy him again. After the battle, Takeru, Kenta and Haruka are put through training by Momoko and Akira, since they were slow enough to get frozen earlier. Cast * : * : * : * : * : * : *Azuma: * : * : * : * , : * : * : Errors to be added Notes *'Viewership': 10.5% *Momoko and Akira were youngest members of a team. *Maria Rose (flower's name) was equivalent to Mary Rose which is Momoko's dubbed name in Filipino. *Future Sentai actor Rika Satoh, who would portray Eri/Gosei Pink in Tensou Sentai Goseiger, was born on the day of this episode's broadcast. DVD releases Hikari Sentai Maskman Volume 1 features episodes 1-10. http://www.toei-video.co.jp/DVD/sp21/maskman.html References Category:Hikari Sentai Maskman Category:Sentai episodes Category:Written by Toshiki Inoue